The Book of Amir Khusrau

Book excerpt: THE BOOK OF AMIR KHUSRAU Selected Poems & The Tale of the Four Dervishes Translation & Introduction Paul Smith Amir Khusrau (1253-1324), the 'Parrot of India' was born at Patigali near the Ganges in India. At the age of thirty-six he was poet-laureate, serving many sultans. He was not only fluent in Persian, in which he composed the majority of his 92 books, but also in Arabic, Hindi and Sanskrit. He composed ten long masnavis, five Divans of ghazals and other poems and many prose works. He was a Master musician and invented the sitar. The Perfect Master Nizam ud-din took him as his disciple and eventually he became God-realized. He rebelled against narrow spirituality and helped redefine the true Sufi way. He was a profound influence on Hafiz and is seen as the link between Sadi and Hafiz in updating the form and content of the ghazal and eroticising it. This is the largest selection of his poems in English. Introduction is on his Life & Times & Poetry and the Forms in which he wrote and on Sufism & Poetry. The correct rhyme-structure has been kept and the meaning of these beautiful, enlightened poems. Appendix: Translation of his The Tale of the Four Dervishes Large Format Paperback 7" x 10" 439 pages COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH'S TRANSLATION OF HAFIZ'S 'DIVAN'. "It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished. If he comes to Iran I will kiss the fingertips that wrote such a masterpiece." Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran. "Superb translations. 99% Hafiz 1% Paul Smith." Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator of works into Persian and knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart. "Smith has probably put together the greatest collection of literary facts and history concerning Hafiz." Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin Books author). "I was very impressed with the beauty of these books." Dr. R.K. Barz. Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University. Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Omar Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Shah Latif, Bulleh Shah, Iqbal, Ghalib, Dara Shikoh, Lalla Ded, Makhfi and many others, and his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books, and a dozen screenplays. www.newhumanitybooks.com